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Arlene Foster.
2020–2029 CE
The Republic began the year under stringent public-health restrictions following the severe winter wave of COVID-19. Household visits, travel, retail, hospitality, cultural events and much ordinary recreation were curtailed. Schools gradually resumed in March, while the reopening of construction, some outdoor activity and later retail brought visible changes during the spring. These were not straightforward returns to pre-pandemic routines: masks, distancing, capacity limits, testing, isolation and the calculation of personal risk remained embedded in daily life.
2010–2019 CE
The general election of 26 February returned a highly fragmented Thirty-second Dáil. Fine Gael remained the largest party, with 50 seats, but its previous coalition partner, Labour, suffered a severe reverse and retained only seven. Fianna Fáil recovered substantially to 44 seats; Sinn Féin won 23; and Independents and smaller parties occupied an unusually important place in the new chamber. No plausible two-party majority emerged. The result expressed both continuing approval for economic recovery after the financial crisis and widespread impatience with austerity’s social legacy, most visibly the controversy over domestic water charges, insecure housing and strained public services.
